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Michigan State University Extension helps people improve their lives by bringing the vast knowledge resources of MSU directly to individuals, communities and businesses.

Bioeconomy

MSU Extension’s bioenergy and bioproducts team assesses the needs of Michigan stakeholders within the broad bioeconomy industry by addressing issues through research and Extension efforts to help the citizens of Michigan reach sustainable bioenergy and bioproduct development goals.

Related Topics

Feedstocks

Biomass

Biomass is living or recently dead biological materials, that comes from plants and animal matter. Biomass can be used to produce plastics, polymers, carpets, fabrics, detergents, fabrics, lubricants and transportation fuels. Some examples include miscanthus, switchgrass, corn, poplar, sugarcane and palm oil.

Cellulosic Ethanol

Ethanol can be produced from these many different sources of biomass. Plant cell walls are made up of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. Through pretreatment, these tightly interwoven plant cell wall components can be broken apart. Once broken apart, enzymes can break cellulose and hemicellulose down into various sugars. These sugars can then be distilled into ethanol, an alternative transportation fuel.

The United States Department of Agriculture and the United States Department of Energy commissioned a study in 2005 to determine the quantity of biomass that could be sustainably removed and converted and converted into ethanol. In order to reach the goal of producing 36 billion gallons of ethanol by the year 2022, approximately 1 billion tons of biomass will need to be collected and converted into ethanol.